Listen to the audio CD of The Queen’s Garden, recorded by the playwright. A copy of the CD is on reserve in the Library Audio Library. Write a critical review of the work focusing on the degree of its effectiveness in painting a picture of a community and various characters both inside and outside the community. Your review should be linked to your Portfolio page. In addition you should see the attached videos of performances by the playwright
I thought the audio was really great. I had never experienced a one woman show. I couldn't understand how one person could be so many different characters at once. I really enjoyed the way the music was woven into the dialogue, however, at times I couldn't understand what the character was saying. I think she did a decent job of creating an effective community. I say decent because she fitted almost all the characters into a similar type. For example, almost all the girl characters got pregnant and dropped out. Brenda became the only character who wasn't following the social norm. Brenda also only represents the character through how she views them. It is not actually how the characters are, but her opinion of them. She does do a good job of representing the community through language though. Brenda created such diversity in the characters through dialogue alone. A lot of the characters have a different dialect even though some live in the same area. Brenda spoke different from Sherry and both spoke very different from Kali.
I thought the audio was really great. I had never experienced a one woman show. I couldn't understand how one person could be so many different characters at once. I really enjoyed the way the music was woven into the dialogue, however, at times I couldn't understand what the character was saying. I think she did a decent job of creating an effective community. I say decent because she fitted almost all the characters into a similar type. For example, almost all the girl characters got pregnant and dropped out. Brenda became the only character who wasn't following the social norm. Brenda also only represents the character through how she views them. It is not actually how the characters are, but her opinion of them. She does do a good job of representing the community through language though. Brenda created such diversity in the characters through dialogue alone. A lot of the characters have a different dialect even though some live in the same area. Brenda spoke different from Sherry and both spoke very different from Kali.